From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #368 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, April 2 2007 Volume 10 : Number 368 In this issue: Insurgency Governments and their methods Aboriginal insurgents System ill-equipped to prevent Dawson-like violence; NY Times: Shootings were down 42 percent, rapes 27 percent Province's CFO will review how ammunition for handguns sold ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 19:46:10 -0700 From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Insurgency Until non-native Canadian gun owners form militant groups of "warrior societies' with flags, appear in camo with face masks, causing public disturbance, ignoring court injunctions to cease and desist, I'd say we have little reason to fear government surveillance and action. Until then, I think we can afford to relax and not let our 'worst-possible-paranoias' run away with our imaginations. I've had the experience of being in the company of members of a state 'militia' in Montana. It was actually a Cowboy Action shoot, but there was a real hierarchy evident, with distinct deference shown to certain authority figures. During an interval when the stats were being ground out, we amused ourselves by shooting at snoose cans of Forcite with our .45s and .44s out to 50 yards. The noise was considerable and I asked if we were going to draw heat for it. The answer was "Naw, this is minin' country and folks is blastin' here 'bouts all the time." Within a half hour, we had a black helicopter overhead. I asked if it was one of the infamous "Black Helicopters" and was told "Yes". Further, I was told that we were also under observation by ground units in radio contact with the chopper as SOP. This was the time of the Ruby Ridge incident or thereabouts. I was surprised and said "Maybe it's time you guys thought about joining one of the citizen militias" and the response was "Who do ya think yer shootin' with, boy?" They assured me that since no one was running around in camos with an M-16 or AK-47, we were OK. The chopper left moments later. They made it quite clear that they had little use for federal authority, left wing politics and government in general. So unless you are a member of such a clandestine group of would-be insurgents, I wouldn't be unduly concerned about a potential visit from the JTF-2, RCMP ERT, etc. If you are, best cinch down your tinfoil helmet strap and stock up the bunker.....just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get'cha...... This is better than reality TV! TB ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 00:21:52 -0600 (CST) From: "Jim Szpajcher" Subject: Governments and their methods Rick - Thanks for the response. > Before we follow this line of reasoning a little further, perhaps you > could put that in the context of aid to the civil power for the readers, > Jim. Because that's what you're talking about. While I accept that you see it that way, any time a government works to crush a minority group trying to stand up for its rights, it is hardly in the context of civil power. In fact, it seems rather uncivil, to me. There can be little doubt that this is what has happened to the gun owners of Canada - most visibly the 12(6) gun owners who are in court these days, fighting to retain their legally acquired property. > I wasn't aware that JTF-2 or any other military "special force" was > involved in that one. You'll have to fill us in on what unit and what > role they played. Better yet, ask John with Marstar for the badge numbers and service history of each of the personnel who entered his premises. I'm sure he tried to get them. See how much success he had. > If you could convince me that a simple majority of Canadians agree on > what does and doesn't constitute "liberty", then I might agree. But > that isn't the case at all, and enforcing any one person's idea of what > constitutes "Liberty" on the other three million people is simply the > tyranny of the minority. 1. I don't worry about trying to convince anyone of anything. I calls it as I sees it. 2. In the type of political system which Canada currently employs, we can have either the tyranny of the minority, or the tyranny of the majority. Since neither result has anything to do with Liberty, we're pooched, no matter how one looks at it. > It is so easy to blame "government". How else does one work to get change? > The reality is that elections are > held regularly for all levels of government in this country. This makes Canada a psephocracy, not a democracy. Virtually every nation in the world has elections - including China and Russia. Does the fact that they have elections make these nations free and democratic? I doubt not. > Much as > people hate to acknowledge it, "governments" are simply the people, and > we get pretty much the kind of government we asked for. Try telling that to the folks like Warren Kinsella, and the other policy wonks who think that politics is a bloodsport, and savour the savagery of it. >We get a chance > to radically reshape the country every four or five years or so if we're > having a problem with "Liberty". How many Libertarians have been > elected in Canada, just as a small step towards a vasty different vision > of "liberty"? We get a chance to vote for the dictatorship we want to rule us. As per: http://www.canada.com/national/features/democracy/story.html?id=%7B84423B03-A368-4F91-A52B-CDCA98746160%7D from the Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2002, which states in part: Quote: Mr. Chrétien's decision to make an international commitment on Sept. 2 without first informing all the members of his cabinet is just one example of the power he now wields. In fact, some observers say so much power is now concentrated in the Prime Minister's Office that they are concerned even cabinet is becoming irrelevant. "Our concentration of power is greater than in any other government with a federal cabinet system," says Gordon Robertson, former clerk of the Privy Council. "With the lack of checks and balances, the prime minister in Canada is perhaps the most unchecked head of government among the democracies." Whether that is good or bad depends largely on your perspective, says Donald Savoie, professor at the Université de Moncton and author of the seminal book Governing from the Centre. "It's good if you want efficiency. It's good if you want decisive action. It's good if you want bold leadership. It's bad if you want Canadians in regions to have a voice, to have more than a handful of people making terribly important decisions about their future and the future of the country." End Quote The above quote is about Chretien's government. I don't recall that Harper has adopted "inclusion" as his style in controlling his caucus. > If the bulk of Canadians actually agreed with Bruce's vision of Liberty > - or yours, or mine, or a lot of other peoples', then governments would > not continue to win mandates to govern as they do. People would vote > them out and vote in somebody more in line with what they view as > liberty. Obviously, a good portion of Canadians think "Liberty" is in > good working order, no matter what any one of us may think otherwise. Obviously, a good portion of Canadians are not thinking at all. As rulers have for millennia, giving the masses "bread and circuses" takes their attention away from the way they are ruled. The chains may lay lightly on us, but they are chains, nonetheless. Jim Szpajcher ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 04:24:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Barry Glasgow Subject: Aboriginal insurgents Regarding your article, "Canada's Military Plots "War Crimes" against Indigenous People", you say that the government is out to "kill us" - meaning all aboriginal peoples. This in itself is deceit as intelligent people know that counter-terrorism efforts are directed at armed thugs who use weapons and intimidation (i.e. terror) to achieve their goals. You say that "In our peaceful demonstrations at Kanehsatake, Gustafsen, Ipperwash, Six Nations, Grassy Narrows, and other places our legal rights were violated." What about our legal rights? All Canadians should expect freedom of movement? Yet threats of physical violence predominate these blockades and we know full well the number of militrary and paramilitary weapons your "peaceful" society has smuggled in from your American counterparts. Any white person resorting to the tactics used by your warriors at OKA and Kanehsatake (some of whom have criminal records) would not expect the restraint measured out by the police and military at that time. We would have been attacked and killed in short order. You will have a hard time convincing the Canadian public that you are a peaceful nation when they can clearly see the Warrior Society symbol brandishing an automatic weapon on the side of buildings as they drive through Akwesasne. The very word "warrior" belies your intentions and you have traditionally used force and intimidation to leverage more and more claims from increasingly over-tolerant governments. Many of us are starting to see it for what it is - more extortion. Despite aboriginal claims, this is not your land. The notion that whatever small band of nomads arrived first gets to lay claim to vast tracts of land is archaic and misguided. You have no more claim to these lands than do descendants of the Saxon tribes on any part of Europe. Get with the 21st century and start contributing to our society instead of taking more and more from it. ====================== Barry Glasgow Ottawa, Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, April 2, 2007 6:29 am From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: System ill-equipped to prevent Dawson-like violence; - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: Montreal Gazette DATE: 2007.04.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A6 BYLINE: DENE MOORE SOURCE: CP WORD COUNT: 380 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- System ill-equipped to prevent Dawson-like violence; Report's conclusions heavily edited. Deficiencies in mental health resources cited - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- Provinces don't have the mental health resources to prevent tragedies like the shooting spree at Dawson College last fall, internal federal briefing documents say. A draft report prepared for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day after the shootings at Dawson College last September questions whether the mental health system could be tapped to detect and prevent violence involving mental illness. The discussion and any conclusions have been purged from the heavily edited documents, obtained by the Canadian Press using access to information laws. But the briefing notes do say there are not enough mental health resources to provide preventive treatment. "Each province has mental health legislation designed to protect the mentally ill and ensure they receive appropriate care and treatment," says the draft report prepared a couple of weeks after Kimveer Gill stormed the school last Sept. 13. "However, provincial mental health legislation is not designed to protect public safety." Gill's family has blamed mental illness for the spree, which left 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa dead and 20 others either wounded by bullets or injured in the ensuing panic as they fled. The federal report says federal jurisdiction is limited when it comes to identifying risks before an offence occurs. "The (Criminal) Code has no preventative provisions for the mentally ill," it says, other than a rarely used provision that allows courts to detain people proven an imminent risk to commit violent crime. Renee Fugere, president of the Canadian Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and a board member of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, said the assessment is accurate: the mental health system is underfunded and short-staffed. But she said linking that to the Dawson shooting or other violent crimes is not accurate. Such killers don't often suffer recognizable mental illnesses that would bring them in contact with the mental health system prior to their crimes, said Fugere, a psychiatrist at Montreal's Pinel Institute. Killers like Gill are more likely to suffer antisocial disorders, she said. "These people want the public to know they exist," she said. "One day, based on various circumstances, they will act out." When it comes to random violence like the Dawson shooting, Fugere said restricting access to weapons may be the only means of prevention. The federal report also documents the kind of media coverage the CEGEP shooting generated. "The shootings, as expected, also brought up the issue of gun control," media monitors noted. The documents note that Bill C-21, the Conservative law abolishing the long-gun registry, had not been scheduled for second reading and "it's unclear when this legislation will go forward." "This government's proposal to eliminate the requirement to register non-restricted firearms has come under renewed criticism," the document says. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 11:18:48 -0400 From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: NY Times: Shootings were down 42 percent, rapes 27 percent PUBLICATION: The New York Times DATE: 2007.04.02 EDITION: Late Edition - Final SECTION: Metropolitan PAGE: 1 ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Police Director Garry F. McCarthy, left, with Mayor Cory A.Booker, center, and Police Chief Anthony Campos, discussed crime last month. (Photo by Dith Pran/The New York Times)(pg. B3) Chart: "Crime in Newark" January through March Murders IN 2006 -- 22 IN 2007 --24 Shootings IN 2006 -- 99 IN 2007 -- 57 Burglaries IN 2006 -- 296 IN 2007 -- 155 Arrests IN 2006 -- 5,890 IN 2007 -- 7,170 (pg. B3) DATELINE: NEWARK, April 1 BYLINE: ANDREW JACOBS WORD COUNT: 980 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- Crime Drops In Newark, But Murders Keep On Rising - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- Mayor Cory A. Booker looked at the police statistics in front of him and let out a relieved sigh. Three months into 2007, overall crime here in New Jersey's largest city had dropped some 40 percent from the previous year. Shootings were down 42 percent, rapes 27 percent. After years on the rise, it seemed as if Newark's tide of violence might be ebbing. Sitting in a City Hall conference room at his weekly public safety briefing three weeks ago, Mr. Booker turned to his police director, Garry F. McCarthy, and beamed. "These numbers are phenomenal," Mr. Booker said. "Let's hope they hold." Then he joked to the half-dozen aides gathered: "If any of you guys get shot over the next few weeks, please just make sure you don't die." But the last half of March brought bad news. Although crime continued to fall overall, five people were killed in the month's final two weeks, bringing the number of murders this year to 24, up from 22 during the first three months of 2006. "I don't even know what to say, because it doesn't make sense," Mr. McCarthy told Mr. Booker as they studied the murder figures last Tuesday. "Considering how far all the other numbers have come, it feels like bad luck." Even as they continue to see a drop in shootings, burglaries, rapes and assaults, the police here remain stymied by homicides. Except for a handful of exceptions, the authorities said, most of the victims were young and had criminal records, gang affiliations and connections to the drug trade. Last year, there were 105 killings in Newark, the highest number since 1990, when the crack epidemic was raging and 114 people lost their lives to violence. A number of other cities saw murders climb last year after a decade of decline, but crime experts say Newark's situation is unusual because shootings, which often run parallel to homicides, have plummeted since January. Other usual barometers of falling crime, such as gun seizures and arrests of all sorts, have increased in recent months. Armando B. Fontura, the Essex County sheriff, has his own theory about why homicides in Newark remain high in the face of an overall drop in crime. Guns are plentiful, he said, and those who own them have little compunction about settling disputes with weapons. "If they think you've violated their territory or disrespected someone and one of these thugs marks you for death, the next day you're dead," Sheriff Fontura said. "Even if you put more police on the street, you're not going to stop an assassination." David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that in many of the cities where homicides were rising, like Newark, the violence was concentrated in low-income neighborhoods where guns were abundant and both suspects and victims had criminal histories. "The homicides tend to be driven by a very small population, and so while a city as a whole can be getting safer, this tiny, superheated group of people can make the homicide numbers go in the wrong direction," Mr. Kennedy said. Such explanations offer little comfort to Mr. Booker, who repeatedly tells residents and reporters alike that public safety should be the main measure of his success as mayor. Although he is frustrated by the lack of progress in lowering the number of murders -- and reacts emotionally to news of each death -- Mr. Booker tries to remind people that the average Newarker is far less likely to be mugged, shot or have a car stolen than a year ago. He urges patience. "I still believe that by the end of the year we'll be one of the most exciting crime-reduction stories in the country," said Mr. Booker, who took office in July. The outcome will rely heavily on Mr. McCarthy, the police director, who has been working to revamp a department bruised by political infighting, allegations of corruption, decaying station houses and criticism of its policing style. Since last fall, when he was hired away from the New York Police Department, Mr. McCarthy has created a central narcotics division, transferred 150 officers from desk jobs to patrol work and begun a fugitive squad that has captured 9 of the city's 12 most wanted suspects. Morale, many officers on the 1,300-member force say, has never been higher. Mr. McCarthy, whose forte as New York's deputy commissioner of operations was tactics and intelligence, also has been pushing an aggressive quality-of- life policing campaign in the hope it will do for Newark what it did for New York. Officers here have been issuing so many tickets for public drinking and littering -- nearly 4,000 since January - -- that some precincts have almost exhausted their supply of forms. But it is not clear whether such a crackdown can put a dent in homicides. "This is a work in progress," Mr. McCarthy said. It is at the ComStat meetings, a gathering every Thursday of commanding officers and division heads, where Mr. McCarthy's crime-fighting strategy is most clearly on display. Mr. McCarthy and his chief of criminal investigations, Samuel DeMaio, prod veteran detectives and precinct commanders about recent crimes and exhort them to think about tackling their jobs in new ways. "Your shootings are looking good, but your homicides are horrible," he said to one commander whose precinct investigated a double homicide last week. He explained that a new criminal intelligence unit would begin collecting data on every arrested gang member, illegal social club and outdoor drug bazaar. The idea, he said, is to stop crimes before they occur. "The work we do before something happens is just as important as the work we do after something happens," he said. Then he reminded the gathering that mundane tactics, like giving out parking tickets to double-parked cars in known drug locations, can pay off. "A lot of cops say, 'I don't do parkers or movers,' " he said, using police lingo for parking and moving violations. "But if someone goes in to buy a dime bag of weed and they get a $65 parking ticket, that dime bag just cost them $75. Chances are, they're not coming back." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, April 2, 2007 9:20 am From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Province's CFO will review how ammunition for handguns sold - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: The Toronto Star DATE: 2007.04.02 EDITION: Ont SECTION: Gta PAGE: E01 BYLINE: Betsy Powell SOURCE: Toronto Star WORD COUNT: 507 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- Official targets bullet sales Hunters' group opposes change; Province's chief firearms officer will review how ammunition for handguns sold - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -------- Would tightening up the sale of bullets make Ontario a safer place? That's the question the province's chief firearms officer will be asking as he reviews the way handgun ammunition is sold. But Supt. Chris Wyatt, of the Ontario Provincial Police, said for that to be worthwhile, any changes to the current system would have to be done in conjunction with other provinces because Ontario is the only jurisdiction that requires anyone buying ammunition to produce a firearms licence. "You can drive over to Quebec, buy yourself a box of bullets, and drive back here and there's no offence," Wyatt said in an interview. In addition, "I think you can just go to the Internet to some retailer and say, 'Please send me a box of 9mm bullets.'" Last week, Queen's Park adopted a resolution calling on the government to direct the chief firearms officer "to report on alternatives to restrict and limit the possession and sale of handgun ammunition." Liberal MPP Brad Duguid (Scarborough Centre) introduced the motion. Duguid is also calling on his government to make it illegal to possess ammunition without being authorized to do so, although it's unclear if the province has that power under the Charter of Rights, Wyatt said. Opposition critics said the Duguid's motion was an attempt by the governing Liberals to be seen to be doing something on gun crime instead of taking real action. Greg Farrant, government relations manager for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, also said changes are "unnecessary." If there's a concern retailers are not asking for valid identification when people buy ammunition - as required by law - then "that's an enforcement issue." Wyatt said he is not aware of any complaints about Ontario's 800 licensed retailers not following regulations. And banning or restricting the sale and/or possession of certain types of handgun ammunition "does not address the real issue that criminals don't go to gun stores with proper licences to buy ammunition. They either steal it or buy it on the street," Farrant said. "So the only people who are affected by this are licensed, trained, legal law-abiding firearms owners ... while the criminals are out there laughing themselves silly because they'll get the ammunition anytime they want." Asked if there needs to be changes to the current system, Wyatt responded: "I can't really say until I study the matter." But he said an outright ban on ammunition used in handguns would run into stiff opposition from hunters and sports shooters across the province since "several types of ammunition are interchangeable between hunting firearms and handguns." Farrant said while Duguid insisted the resolution was not meant to affect hunters with long guns, further restrictions or a ban would have that effect. "Farmers use .22-calibre long guns for shooting coyotes or racoons or groundhogs ... and that ammunition is interchangeable with a .22 handgun," Farrant explained. Firearm control advocate Wendy Cukier called the resolution an "interesting proposal." "Currently, we have some controls (the federal law requires the licence be presented) and the provincial law requires record keeping, but we know from a lot of investigative work that often these laws are poorly implemented," she wrote in an email. While firearms legislation is federal, "we are encouraging provinces to explore ways in which they can strengthen the implementation of existing legislation and also exploit their jurisdiction over sales of firearms and ammunition, for example, to improve controls." There are approximately 200,000 registered handguns in Ontario, mainly owned by target shooters and collectors, Wyatt said. That doesn't include police or military. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #368 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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